It does sound to me like that may raise a challenge, because if someone is new to the industry, is not following the rules, and is under investigation, and they continue to not act according to the rules, that may actually create more hassle down the line.
Now going back to some of the things that MP Scott Andrews mentioned earlier, as well as Mr. Stephen Andrews mentioned earlier on transparency, one of the fears you have is that you create a system that does not achieve the public goal of being a transparent system so that people know the system has checks and balances. But I'm also worried about Mr. Patrick's comments about creating a bureaucracy, because we all know that red tape does end up costing more.
The Commissioner of Lobbying recommended that we broaden the scope of the Lobbying Act by removing the provisions regarding “significant part of duties”. We discussed this a little bit earlier. This would allow the government to include companies and individuals who claim that lobbying is not a significant part of their duties but is still relevant.
Do we see a possible large increase in costs as a result of this recommendation? I do know that red tape, when you add it up, does cost everyone more, especially if it doesn't add value.